In the dim darkness at the bottom of the ship, where dampness filled the air and the creaking of wood occasionally whispered softly—as if the ship itself were breathing—Louay slowly opened his eyes. He lay sprawled atop old, dusty cloth sacks that reeked of age, with faint strands of sunlight sneaking through the narrow cracks of the wooden planks that separated this lower corner from the rest of the vessel.
Above on the deck, the voices of the Straw Hat crew rose—laughter, scattered conversations—then from the shore came cheers, distant but clear and warm with celebration.
"Nami..." The crowd was chanting her name.
Louay exhaled slowly, raising his hand to shield his right eye from the bothersome light, then sat up heavily, rubbing the messy side of his hair with a hint of irritation.
"Their noise never ends..."
He reached for a fragile white sack beside him, opened it, and pulled out a nearly stale piece of bread and a glass bottle of water. He took a slow bite, appetite absent, his mouth moving only because it had to. A sip of water, then another, while his ear followed the passing conversations overhead.
Suddenly, a slight tremor shook the ship's floor. Wood creaked again—the vessel had shifted.
Quietly, he muttered to himself,
"They've set sail..."
He finished the last crumb of bread, closed the bottle, then squatted with his back slightly bent, palms flat on the ground. Closing his eyes, he took a long, deep breath.
Inside him, he imagined the spark of Haki pulsing in his chest. It wasn't mere imagination—it was sensation. He tried to push it from his heart toward his arms... he felt it move, faint but real.
Opening his eyes, he looked at his hands. A faint darkness was forming on his skin—unfinished, but clear enough to show progress.
"Better than yesterday..." he whispered softly.
But when he tried to channel the Haki into his legs... he failed.
He furrowed his brows hard and said angrily,
"Damn it... this won't do. Covering only my arms isn't enough..."
He tried again and again. Once, twice, dozens of times. Each attempt ended in failure. The waves of Haki shattered before reaching his feet. Something inside his body refused to obey.
He sighed deeply, leaned his head against the wooden wall behind him, then spoke quietly to himself,
"I need an island... field training... real application, not this fumbling in the dark. Also..."
He paused, then added with a hint of complaint,
"I need to learn Observation Haki as soon as possible... though that kind is truly annoying."
He closed his eyes again, trying once more to focus the Haki—not just on parts of his body, but through his bones, muscles, skin, and blood. He pictured the Haki as a black aura flowing through him, enveloping him completely.
Suddenly, he gasped, and the wave broke. The Haki vanished as quickly as it had come. A half-smile played on his lips as he whispered,
"Partial success... but it's too weak. How much Haki is active in my body right now? Maybe less than ten percent..."
Then his thought was cut by a sharp voice overhead.
"Whaaaaat?!"
It was Nami's voice, followed by Luffy's usual excited tone:
"A bounty?! How much?"
Nami shouted back,
"Amazing?! Are you crazy?!"
Sanji and Usopp asked curiously,
"How much?"
A still thoughtful expression crossed Louay's face. He closed his eyes slightly, mumbling to himself,
"Thirty thousand Beli, right? Or... no, wait. I changed some details earlier, but... no, the difference won't be big."
Then came Nami's shocked voice as she held a newspaper in one hand and the bounty poster in the other,
"Forty-five thousand Beli!"
Luffy laughed and jumped like a child.
"Wow! That's great!"
At the same time, Usopp was running madly inside the ship, screaming, hands on his head,
"I want to go back to my village! You guys are crazy!"
Zoro said quietly but seriously,
"Things are moving fast..."
He grabbed one of his swords, speaking with resolve,
"I have to move too..."
Luffy stretched his rubbery arm, snatched the poster from Nami, looked at his bloodied picture from the fight with Arlong, and laughed,
"Not bad!"
Nami pulled the newspaper and started reading aloud, but something in her expression suddenly changed. Her eyes widened, and her voice faltered. Sanji asked quickly,
"What is it?"
All eyes turned to her; even the voices quieted.
She said, stunned,
"Arlong... the one who terrorized Cocoyashi Island for years... was killed by Straw Hat Luffy in a brutal way..."
Silence reigned for a moment.
Luffy said confusedly,
"But... I didn't kill him. I'm sure."
Nami calmly replied,
"I know... but the news says otherwise..."
Sanji lit his cigarette.
"Regardless of the truth, that explains the high bounty..."
Usopp stopped running, asking worriedly,
"Who did it then? And why?"
Zoro murmured, staring out the window at the horizon,
"Seems... we weren't alone on Cocoyashi Island..."
Below the ship, in the shadows, Louay didn't move from his spot. He didn't even open his eyes, sitting still in a meditative pose, though his mind worked silently.
He sighed inwardly and sarcastically said to himself,
"I wonder... did that really happen?"
Then quietly returned to his silence.
---
Two full days passed, and Louay remained hidden in the ship's lowest deck, where sunlight barely reached him except through faint cracks. He neither went up nor showed himself—he simply sat, ate, slept, and trained.
He kept repeating the Haki transfer exercise over and over. Hours passed as he tried to envelop his feet in the black energy, but his body wouldn't obey. His arms responded better, but his legs refused submission. Sometimes, it felt like his feet belonged to someone else.
"Is it really that hard to control yourself?... The body isn't yours to force—more like negotiating with a beast sleeping inside you... some beasts can be tamed, some must be left to slumber."
---
On the morning of the third day, loud explosions shook the ship, followed by Usopp's shouting.
"A Navy ship is attacking us!"
"Prepare! Ready the cannons!"
"Oh no! They tracked us because of the bounty!"
Luffy laughed madly,
"I've become famous, hahaha..."
Nami snapped angrily,
"Shut up!"
Louay knew what was happening without moving.
"So... 45 million was enough to light up the seas."
He rose quietly, lifted his two bags, and walked steadily through the wooden shadows.
"I'm getting bored anyway," he said.
Standing beneath the wooden ceiling, he raised his Haki-coated hand and silently removed one of the old planks. He pulled the two bags up first, then slipped his body through. He replaced the plank and firmly pushed four nails back in with the tips of his Haki-imbued fingers. It took only seconds.
The air upstairs was thick with the smell of gunpowder and burning wood. The crew's shouts echoed above, while the ship rocked under the impact of the cannon fire.
Louay entered the kitchen with steady steps.
He opened the fridge and began putting food into the white sack—some loaves, slices of bacon, bottles of water, and canned goods.
He paused for a second closing the sack, a mocking smile on his face.
"In all this chaos... no one asks about food. It's always the last thing on their minds, yet the first to be lost after war."
---
In the corner, he noticed a small window open to the sea.
He took off his black coat and pants, carefully wrapped them, and placed them in the sack.
He was now wearing only his underwear.
He opened the window, inhaled the fresh air, then jumped.
The cold water slapped his body like a slap, but Louay didn't stop.
He swam steadily toward the Navy ship nearby. It was large, painted dark blue, bearing the symbol of justice, its cannon barrels still blazing.
He tied the two sacks on his shoulders, wrapped his hands in black Haki, then plunged them into the water-soaked wood and began climbing.
"Climbing... is always harder than falling. But no one is remembered for falling."
---
He reached a small window, clenched his right fist, focused the Haki there, and struck the glass.
It shattered with a muffled sound, and he slipped inside.
The place was a simple bathroom, wooden walls, water dripping from a broken pipe.
He silently lifted the two sacks and quietly opened the door.
The corridor inside the ship was wide enough for three men to walk side by side. The floor was made of solid wooden planks, smelling of sea and moisture. Small lamps hung on the walls, casting faint yellow lights that revealed dust suspended in the air and cast pale shadows over the boxes and barrels lining the sides. The flickering lights swayed with the ship's movement.
Doors lined the corridor, most closed. Shouts came from the upper deck:
"Straw Hats are escaping!"
"Stop them!"
"Prepare the small boats!"
At that moment, a soldier opened a door from the other side.
He wore the official Navy uniform—blue and white—with a mid-ranking insignia.
He saw Louay standing there in only his underwear, the two sacks on his shoulders.
"Hey, you!" the soldier said, staring.
He stepped forward. "Why are you so naked?! Who are you?!"
Louay said nothing, only looked at him.
"Don't you hear me?! Go to your quarters immediately!"
The soldier approached, raising his hand toward one of the sacks.
"What are those bags?"
But he didn't finish.
He gasped sharply, then took a step back...
Feeling pain, a strange mix of cold and heat in his chest, his breaths cut short.
"What... is happening to me?!"
He lowered his head and saw Louay's right arm had pierced his chest completely, exiting the other side. It was completely wrapped in Haki, solid and deadly.
He raised his confused head and saw a faint smile on Louay's face.
Louay spoke quietly,
"What's wrong? Feeling dizzy?"
The soldier's features stiffened, then his eyes rolled back. His body collapsed without resistance, hanging from Louay's arm.
---
"You bastard!!"
A deep voice came from the end of the corridor.
Another soldier—middle-aged, broad-shouldered, muscular—looked like a giant compared to the first. His face was rough, marked by years spent at sea under sun and salt. His skin was dark brown, and his brown hair was tightly tied back. He wore a dark Navy jacket and a medium-sized sword hung lightly from his waist.
He said with trembling rage, grinding his teeth until his jaw muscles bulged,
"How dare you do that to my friend?!"
Louay looked at the hanging corpse, then at the giant, smiling sarcastically as he pulled his arm free.
"Is this... your friend?"
The soldier advanced, shouting,
"You bastard!"
He ran at Louay, right fist raised.
Louay swung his fist hard to scatter drops of blood across the soldier's surprised face, and found himself punching the dead friend that Louay held before him as a shield.
Blood splattered over the soldier's face, and he stopped, stunned.
Louay said,
"How ironic..."
Then he threw the corpse at him.
At the moment the soldier caught his friend's corpse, Louay tried to focus the Haki in his legs.
"Let's try this..."
He kicked him hard in the face, but it had no effect.
He looked at his legs and said,
"Damn... it didn't work."
But before he could step back, the soldier grabbed his right leg.
He lifted it high like a toy.
Louay said, mid-air,
"This... is bad."
The soldier shouted,
"Die, you bastard!"
He lifted Louay high and slammed him to the ground with all his might.
"Ugh!"
Louay's back hit the ground hard; blood spilled from his mouth, and the wood trembled beneath him.
"I'm not done with you yet..."
The soldier gave him no chance, lifting him again and slamming him against the wall.
The wall behind shattered; Louay was trapped, his head bleeding, blood soaking his face.
He closed his eyes briefly, fog clouding his vision, muttering to himself,
"Ugh... how annoying..."
Then he opened them slowly.
The soldier advanced, laughing,
"Hah, I knew that wasn't enough to kill you."